Lisa Marie's stage presence needs overhaul

August 11, 2003|By Cindy Barrymore, Special to the Tribune.

You would think that, having been married to Michael Jackson and having Elvis for a dad, Lisa Marie Presley might have lifted a few pointers on how to command a stage. But that shaky left leg thing she had going on Friday night at House of Blues seemed more like someone itching to use the restroom than a daughter borrowing Daddy's signature move.

Needless to say, headliner Chris Isaak didn't find her a tough act to follow. After removing his canary-yellow jacket, emblazoned with black metallic slits, he rolled up his shirt sleeves, literally, and went to work on "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing," copping dance moves by everyone from Mick Jagger to Chuck Berry -- all while steadfastly maintaining Jerry Lee Lewis' persona during his 90-minute show.

His racy stand-up routine and two gaudy suit changes notwithstanding, Isaak out-Elvis-ed Lisa Marie hands down. For most of her 40-minute set, she lingered in a world of her own, rarely venturing from her stance in the middle of the stage. From the show's opener, "Better Beware," onward, she had a minimal but jovial interaction with the audience and almost none with her six-piece band.

Fortunately for Presley, the audience came armed with as much reverence for the King as they did empathy for her. After all, she has some pretty big blue suede shoes to fill.

The space for Presley to maneuver was limited to accommodate Isaak's stage show. But there was no excuse for her lack of emotion while singing songs, presumably about her father, her children and any one of her three husbands, from her debut album, "To Whom It May Concern." Instead, she fidgeted with her ear monitors and flipped pages on her music stand, occasionally throwing her head back either to remove the thick, limp tresses from her face or to signify the end of the song.

However tentative her movements were, her voice told a different story. To be fair, she was able to translate live some of the grit of her Southern-tinged grunge album. On "S.O.B.," with its seductive bass line, she snarled with the conviction of a toned-down Courtney Love and simmered on "Sinking In" (which sounded remotely like the Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun"). Now if only her demeanor could match the album's aggressiveness.

Isaak commented on how being a bandleader isn't as easy as you might think. "It's about making connections [with the audience and performance]," he said.

Only time will tell if Lisa Marie will connect the parts of the musician she wants to be.